Christy Martin: Boxing Ref Not Sexist in Decision to End Match

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Boxing referees may be biased like the world saw with Russell Mora this past Saturday, but sexist is a totally different story. Christy Martin calling the referee that ended her fight against Dakota Stone sexist is just a weak excuse. The ref made a judgment call, gender didn’t have anything to do with it.

Now, who knows if he made the right choice? Of course Martin is going to say the hand was OK and we’ll never know if it could’ve gotten injured further because the ref stopped the fight. He examined the situation for about 25 seconds before finally calling the match; it wasn’t a quick, unjustified reaction.

According to TMZ, Martin and her lawyer held a news conference Monday morning to attack the California State Athletic Commission. I really don’t think the referee ended the fight because he believed she was too delicate and dainty to finish. No offense to Martin, but she is mean looking.

Of course, maybe Martin is calling the hand injury minor because of a past experience where she was nearly murdered. Late last year, Martin’s husband stabbed her multiple times and managed to shoot her at least twice, once in the upper torso and once in the leg. Obviously she survived and made a full recovery.

Now, that’s another reason why there’s no way the ref ended the fight because he was sexist. You know the referee heard about Martin’s near-death experience and knew she was as tough as nails. For him to end the fight, the injury had to be bad.

Complaints probably are coming more from the fact that Martin was just one win away from the 50^th of her career. There was only 51 seconds left in the fight and she was ahead in points. Feel free to criticize the decision, but calling the ref and Athletic Commission sexist is just a joke.

- David Daniels